In the mining field, and in other fields in which large volumes of material are collected and removed from a work site, it is typical to employ industrial machines that include large dippers for shoveling the material from the work site. Industrial machines, such as electric rope or power shovels, draglines, etc., are used to execute digging operations to remove the material from, for example, a bank of a mine. These industrial machines generally include counterweight structures added to the rear end of the machine, the counterweight structures being used to balance the machine during operations of the machine.
The current counterweight structures of many industrial machines include counterweight casting slabs bolted and/or welded to a lower, rear end of a counterweight box. When the shovel rotates, the counterweight creates a tail swing radius. This radius defines an outer boundary that a secondary machine (e.g., a loading vehicle) may not enter. If the loading vehicle enters this area, it may be damaged by or damage the shovel.
The current counterweight structures also present a problem for overall weight of the machine. Since the counterweight creates a tail swing radius, most counterweights have a lateral distance from the rear end of the shovel capped to minimize tail swing. Since the center of gravity of the counterweight is close to the center of gravity of the shovel, the moment arm for balance of the machine is relatively small, meaning the weight of the counterweight must be increased to effectively balance the machine. For example, in some instances, the weight of the counterweight is above 23% of the overall shovel weight. This creates a higher total machine weight, and most components of the machine experience higher degrees of stress as a result.